Excitement

My computer is sitting on my coffee table. I just have two dim lights in my small apartment, and the monitor looks much brighter in this dark room. I got home about half an hour ago, put the new CD that I got last night into my stereo, lit one of my good Japanese incenses (I only use my Japanese incenses for special occasions), poured a glass of wine for myself, and cut the Lavash bread that I got from the Whole Food and put it in the fridge. I also got a spicy tomato soup for dinner, but I’m going to eat it later. I eat this tomato soup 3 to 4 times a week, and I’m not very excited about it; I prefer to finish my wine first.

My apartment is small, and wherever I go I see the light of the monitor of my laptop. Two days ago I promised (to myself) that I won’t write again, and I don’t want to write. I have a movie to see tonight. It’s not one of the San Francisco Film Festival movies; it’s an old movie that I saw many years ago. Like all the movies that we used to see back then in Iran, I saw it with a bad quality. Tonight they are showing it on a big screen, with a good quality! I want to go and see it, but my mind is way too busy, and I can’t stop the temptation. I sit and put my laptop on my lap. I have a strange relationship with my laptop. During the day, when I have to work on the boring technical stuff, I can’t stand seeing it. But at night, she is my lover. I’ve spent many nights with her, much more than many of the lovers that I had in the past. I promised that I won’t spend another night with her, but I can’t resist; sounds familiar, doesn’t it? They say if you can resist a temptation, it doesn’t mean that you’re strong; it’s the temptation that is weak. Am I a strong person? Many people think I am, but frankly, I don’t think so. I really don’t think so. I’ve just been practicing to lose things for a long time. Tonight, I’m going to lose the only opportunity that I have to see this old movie on big screen. I love to see this film, I love films in general, but it’s OK. Seeing the movie doesn’t make me excited enough to leave my lover now, I’m going to stay.

I’m thinking about this word “excitement”. I thought about this word a few hours ago at the Whole Food when I saw a girl looking at the strawberries and trying to choose one of the baskets. I could easily see the excitement in her eyes. I also thought about this word two days ago, when a friend asked me “What the hell do you like then?!”. What do I like? It’s a tough question, and I can’t really answer that. I’ve been thinking about this question since she asked me, and I realized that my list is not longer than very few things. I’m thinking about the things that I’m attached to, and I can’t think of more than two things. The only two things that make me happy, two things that take me to another world, the only things I thought about after leaving them behind in Iran, the only two things that I really care about are my books and my CDs. I’m thinking about the list that I had a few years ago, it was much longer than this. What happened to my list then? Once I had a long list, many things could make me happy, many things could make me excited. I had many hobbies, I liked to learn about everything. Just throw out a subject, and I most probably have something to say about it, and I’ve spent some time learning about it. Once someone said there are two types of people, people who care about learning, and people who don’t care. People who care to learn are two types as well, some are like a deep well, they know a couple of things very well and very deep. The other group loves everything and is like an ocean, but two inches deep! They know about a lot of things, but not deep, they just can’t limit themselves to one or two things. Once I belonged to the last group. I loved everything and wanted to learn about everything. What happened to my passion? What happened to my long list? This is the question that I’ve been asking myself for the last couple of days. Now I think that I have an answer.

*****

Tao Te Ching says:

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

This has been told many times in many different forms and words, but they are all the same: want it, and you’ll never get it. But turn your back to it, and it will be there for you. This is especially true in human relationships. But there’s a paradox there: if you turn your back to something just in order to get it, then you’re not really turning your back– you’re just playing a game. And if you really turn your back, then who cares about getting it anymore?

I learned about this in my childhood, I learned that I should let it go. I learned that I shouldn’t get attached to anything, or I could be sure that it would cause me a lot of pain. Like any other child, I was attached to my family, but I learned in the very early years that I can’t really rely on them. I was attached to my friends, but after losing two of them in the war, and many more who left the country, I learned to let them go as well. I thought if I build something, if I create something, that’s going to be mine forever. But I was wrong. Since I was a child I thought no matter what, I’m not going to let anything destroy my own family, but for no reason, absolutely no reason, it happened and I couldn’t stop it. And I learned more and more to detach myself; I learned to reduce the importance of things that I cared for, just to protect myself from being in pain. My list got smaller and smaller, but losing those few things got more and more difficult and painful. In order to protect myself and prevent the pain, I learned to reduce the importance of the items on my list, but with that, I lost the excitement. Excitement to me is equal to loss, to pain, and to suffering. I’m practicing detachment, I’m practicing not wanting, but every step towards that detachment is painful, and I just can’t get used to the pain.

They say Shebelli, the old Sufi, once said: “I want not to want anything“.
Sheikh Abolhasan Kharaghani said: “But you want that as well!”

I just want not to want anything, but I don’t know how not to want that.

It’s amazing how so many people listen to your music and are not tempted to visit your weblog and leave you a comment. I praise the window through which you look at the world, although I wouldn’t quite agree with the stance you seem to have taken towards life. Not that I know you of course, and at the same time, not that I wouldn’t love to meet you.

You know what, something has happened to us, and by us I mean those group of Iranians who know Iran very well and have deep thoughts and memories about it but at the same time are quite attached to the western lifestyle. We have something in common, and there aren’t that many people sharing this feeling. I can sense that feeling through your music.

I’m getting to know you better with your second album, I really liked the first one, but wasn’t quite as interested to be quite frank. I tried to order your second CD, but it was out of stock, I NEVER buy CDs, and I barely download music too, just listen to the radio. But I will buy your CD, because we share that feeling, I think.

Are you gonna have any concerts in Toronto?

It’d be awesome if you can write back, even if it’s just one line or one word. All the best, and keep up the FANTASTIC work!

I checked this post the day after you wrote it which was also the day after I met you, and coincidentally I had a very uncomfortable dream the night before. You know when you are a little buzzed and tired and go to bed and have hunting dreams, sometimes nightmares..so I guess that was my case. I dream a lot, at least used to dream a lot and sometimes things I never even thought about in my waking life and I surprise myself by dreaming of them. So this particular night in my dream I knew I lost someone I love (a family member) and he was there, standing next to me and I knew I had to let him go. So I hugged him and cried. The pain was so real that I woke up and I was happy that it was only a nightmare. But the memory of how I felt is still with me hunting me. I know deep down that no matter how much I hate it, it will happen. People get old and sick and eventually die, accidents happen and there is nothing I can do to stop them from happening. I can’t detach myself from every thing. Bad things will happen and I will learn how to cope with them, as I have done so far. I guess I’ve learnt to look at my losses differently. If I lose someone I can think of being with them at some different level. That gives me a little relief. It’s not much but it helps.

just wanted to say it was like hearing myself …
have unwittinly lost ecxitement on the way to not wanting to spare the disappointment and pain
miss the twinkle in my naive eyes and the butterflies in my stomach and the endless obssessing: he loves he loves me not, i’ll get it I’ll get it not
feel like a rhino with the heart of frog

to not want to not want is insanity. you just have to be content. it’s that simple or hard depending on how much clutter you’ve got up their. perspective is everything. just know that if you could possibly have more, or want more then you would. the trick is to realize that there is only one concrete reality for the moment and you are living it! (not to withold all of the other non-material realms, of course). I think I might come off as an ass saying it like this but for me it really is that simple. I am not the smartest guy so maybe this doesn’t work for the deep minds out their.